As all of you are aware that the Union Cabinet has accepted the reportof the VII CPC today.

It has been noticed that there is no improvement in Minimum Wage andMultiplying Factor as well, which was our hard pressed demand.Instead, wages, as recommended by the VII CPC have been accepted as itis, which is highly disappointing.

Only two committees have been formed, one to take care of theallowances and another for National Pension Scheme, which will submittheir reportswithin four monthstime.

It is quite unfortunate that, our demand for improvement in the reportof the VII CPC has not been considered by the government.

Therefore, it would be quite appropriate that, we should go ahead withour preparations for “Indefinite Strike”, slated to be commended from06:00hrs. on11th July, 2016.

You are also advised to intensify the mass mobilization and strongprotests on all the offices and establishments be organizedtomorrow,i.e. on30.06.2016.

As all of you are aware that the Union Cabinet has accepted the report of the VII CPC today.

It has been noticed that there is no improvement in Minimum Wage and Multiplying Factor as well, which was our hard pressed demand. Instead, wages, as recommended by the VII CPC have been accepted as it is, which is highly disappointing.

Only two committees have been formed, one to take care of the allowances and another for National Pension Scheme, which will submit their reports within four months time.

It is quite unfortunate that, our demand for improvement in the report of the VII CPC has not been considered by the government.

Therefore, it would be quite appropriate that, we should go ahead with our preparations for “Indefinite Strike”, slated to be commended from 06:00 hrs. on 11th July, 2016.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the implementation of the recommendations of 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) on pay and pensionary benefits. It will come into effect from 01.01.2016.

In the past, the employees had to wait for 19 months for the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations at the time of 5thCPC, and for 32 months at the time of implementation of 6th CPC. However, this time, 7th CPC recommendations are being implemented within 6 months from the due date.

The Cabinet has also decided that arrears of pay and pensionary benefits will be paid during the current financial year (2016-17) itself, unlike in the past when parts of arrears were paid in the next financial year.

The recommendations will benefit over 1 crore employees. This includes over 47 lakh central government employees and 53 lakh pensioners, of which 14 lakh employees and 18 lakh pensioners are from the defence forces.

Highlights:

1.The present system of Pay Bands and Grade Pay has been dispensed with and a new Pay Matrix as recommended by the Commission has been approved. The status of the employee, hitherto determined by grade pay, will now be determined by the level in the Pay Matrix. Separate Pay Matrices have been drawn up for Civilians, Defence Personnel and for Military Nursing Service. The principle and rationale behind these matrices are the same.

2.All existing levels have been subsumed in the new structure; no new levels have been introduced nor has any level been dispensed with. Index of Rationalisation has been approved for arriving at minimum pay in each Level of the Pay Matrix depending upon the increasing role, responsibility and accountability at each step in the hierarchy.

3.The minimum pay has been increased from Rs. 7000 to 18000 p.m. Starting salary of a newly recruited employee at lowest level will now be Rs. 18000 whereas for a freshly recruited Class I officer, it will be Rs. 56100. This reflects a compression ratio of 1:3.12 signifying that pay of a Class I officer on direct recruitment will be three times the pay of an entrant at lowest level.

4.For the purpose of revision of pay and pension, a fitment factor of 2.57 will be applied across all Levels in the Pay Matrices.

5.Rate of increment has been retained at 3 %. This will benefit the employees in future on account of higher basic pay as the annual increments that they earn in future will be 2.57 times than at present.

6.The Cabinet approved further improvements in the Defence Pay Matrix by enhancing Index of Rationalisation for Level 13A (Brigadier) and providing for additional stages in Level 12A (Lieutenant Colonel), 13 (Colonel) and 13A (Brigadier) in order to bring parity with Combined Armed Police Forces (CAPF) counterparts at the maximum of the respective Levels.

·A common regime for payment of Ex-gratia lump sum compensation for civil and defence forces personnel payable to Next of Kin with the existing rates enhanced from Rs. 10-20 lakh to 25-45 lakh for different categories.

·Terminal gratuity equivalent of 10.5 months of reckonable emoluments for Short Service Commissioned Officers who will be allowed to exit Armed Forces any time between 7 and 10 years of service.

·Hospital Leave, Special Disability Leave and Sick Leave subsumed into a composite new Leave named ‘Work Related Illness and Injury Leave’ (WRIIL). Full pay and allowances will be granted to all employees during the entire period of hospitalization on account of WRIIL.

8.The Cabinet also approved the recommendation of the Commission to enhance the ceiling of House Building Advance from Rs. 7.50 lakh to 25 lakh. In order to ensure that no hardship is caused to employees, four interest free advances namely Advances for Medical Treatment, TA on tour/transfer, TA for family of deceased employees and LTC have been retained. All other interest free advances have been abolished.

9.The Cabinet also decided not to accept the steep hike in monthly contribution towards Central Government Employees Group Insurance Scheme (CGEGIS) recommended by the Commission. The existing rates of monthly contribution will continue. This will increase the take home salary of employees at lower levels by Rs. 1470. However, considering the need for social security of employees, the Cabinet has asked Ministry of Finance to work out a customized group insurance scheme for Central Government Employees with low premium and high risk cover.

10.The general recommendations of the Commission on pension and related benefits have been approved by the Cabinet. Both the options recommended by the Commission as regards pension revision have been accepted subject to feasibility of their implementation. Revision of pension using the second option based on fitment factor of 2.57 shall be implemented immediately. A Committee is being constituted to address the implementation issues anticipated in the first formulation. The first formulation may be made applicable if its implementation is found feasible after examination by proposed Committee which is to submit its Report within 4 months.

11.The Commission examined a total of 196 existing Allowances and, by way of rationalization, recommended abolition of 51 Allowances and subsuming of 37 Allowances. Given the significant changes in the existing provisions for Allowances which may have wide ranging implications, the Cabinet decided to constitute a Committee headed by Finance Secretary for further examination of the recommendations of 7th CPC on Allowances. The Committee will complete its work in a time bound manner and submit its reports within a period of 4 months. Till a final decision, all existing Allowances will continue to be paid at the existing rates.

12.The Cabinet also decided to constitute two separate Committees (i) to suggest measures for streamlining the implementation of National Pension System (NPS) and (ii) to look into anomalies likely to arise out of implementation of the Commission’s Report.

13.Apart from the pay, pension and other recommendations approved by the Cabinet, it was decided that the concerned Ministries may examine the issues that are administrative in nature, individual post/ cadre specific and issues in which the Commission has not been able to arrive at a consensus.

14.As estimated by the 7th CPC, the additional financial impact on account of implementation of all its recommendations in 2016-17 will be Rs. 1,02,100 crore. There will be an additional implication of Rs. 12,133 crore on account of payments of arrears of pay and pension for two months of 2015-16.

As a consequence of wonderful success at
branch/division/Circle level programme and also as because a dharna has been
scheduled at Postal Directorate tomorrow on CBS/CIS issue, Member (P) and
Member (Banking) invited Com. R. N. Parashar, General Secretary to meet them
today and subsequently meeting held.

Based on assurances and appeal by Member (P) & Member
(Banking) to readdress all the problems as soon as possible related to
CBS/CIS & Finacle, Dharna/Demonstration in front of Dak Bhawan to be held
on 30.06.2016 postponed.

We are also getting some positive feedback/report from
Circle/Divisions. There are some improvements in CBS/CIS and Finacle problem
in some areas. Some areas are still left with pains which are also to
correct.

So comrades, please intimate the position of CBS/CIS in your
circle to take up with Postal Directorate accordingly.

PUBLIC AUTHORITIES SHOULD USE INDIA POST SERVICES NOT
PRIVATE COURIER SERVICE

It is observed that several
government-departments, public-authorities and public-sector-undertakings
(PSUs) use private courier service rather than postal services.

With premium postal-services like
Speed Post now available at most post offices and destinations, it should be
made compulsory for all bodies under central and state governments for
compulsorily using only normal postal-services. Registered Post should be used
at destinations not covered by premium Speed Post service. Postal Department
should take up the matter with Department of Public Enterprises and others
concerned.

In Focus Public sector services
should be utilised by all public authorities as far as possible to encourage
public sector and to prevent the public money from going to services under
private sector.

Postal department can also provide
special privilege to Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) by introducing sponsored
postal stamps against some minimum purchase of postal stamps where such
sponsored postal stamps can carry design advertisements from these PSUs but
only after being approved by the postal department.

Such sponsored postal stamps can
have some advertisement cost per stamp like in case of inland-letter cards and
post cards. This idea will give increased revenue earning for postal
department, and an advertisement-field for PSUs.

However Speed Post tariffs will have
to be rationalized and revised to be uniform for local and non-local services
with equal tariff-rise for every additional 50 gms rise in slab-weight to
compete charges of private courier services.

Reference is invited to this
Directorate order No.17-39/6/2012-GDS dated 14-01-2015 vide which the revised
eligibility criteria for engagement to GDS posts was prescribed.

2.
It has been
observed that due to maximum age limit of 30 years many of GDS engaged in their
prime youth tend to leave for want of better opportunities and the needy and
competent persons who have ceased the maximum age limit criteria are deprived
of the opportunity.

3.
Further reference
is invited to this Directorate order No.17-39/7/2012-GDS dated 14-01-2015 and
letter No.17-39/2012-GDS dated 16-09-2015 in para 2(b) (vii) of aforementioned
letter it has been stipulated that “the authority higher to the recruiting
authority will nominate a committee constituting of three members including
recruiting authority with two others not below the rank of Inspector Posts.
Beside the said authority will decide the date on which such committee will
meet for finalizing selection”

4.
The above orders
have been reviewed and the following amendments are approved by the competent
authority and shall take into effect from the date of issue of this letter.

(a) The
entry age to the GDS posts shall be raised up to 40 years of age (further
relaxable by 03 years to those belonging to OBC categories and 05 years in case
of candidates belonging to SC/ST. Maximum age of Casual Labourers shall be 45
years (48 years for OBC & 50 years for SC/ST) subject to fulfilling other
conditions of eligibility.

(b) The
instructions about formation of committee consisting of three members
prescribed vide para 2 (b) (viii) of this Directorate letter No.17-39/2012-GDS
dated 16-09-2015 be withdrawn and the recruiting authorities may be allowed to
continue engagement of GDS without formation of such committee.

From 2016 July 11th,
the functioning of the entire Central Government departments, including
Railways, Defence, Postal and all other Departments, will come to a grinding
halt as the historic indefinite strike of Central Government employees begins
at 6 AM on 11th July 2016. About 33 lakhs Central Government
employees shall join the strike and about 40 lakhs Central Government
Pensioners will stand behind them with solidarity and Support. The Central
Trade Unions had already extended their full support. The State Government
employees for whom the Central pay scales are implemented have also made it
clear that they will be forced to join the strike, if Government refuses to
settle the legitimate demands raised by National Joint Council of Action (NJCA)
of Central Government Employees.

NJCA comprising
Railways, Defence, Confederation and Postal Federations, which is spear heading
the struggle had already served strike notice on June 9th and
country wide intensive preparations and campaign are going on in full swing.
The 11 point charter of demands submitted to Government has listed the most
important issues that are agitating the minds of the Central Government
Employees. The 7th CPC recommendations are totally negative and
retrograde. The minimum wage and fitment formula is kept at depressed stage by
manipulating various factors of Aykroid formula. There are every indications to
believe that the Government has intervened in the 7th CPC to make
the recommendations in such a manner suit it to the“concerns expressed by the Finance Ministry”.Other recommendations like reduction in HRA rates,
abolition of 52 allowances, discontinuance of all non-interest bearing advances,
tightening the norms for grant of MACP, restriction imposed on salary for grant
of child care leave, rejection of the demands of the pensioners including
enhancement of fixed medical allowance are also totally negative and
retrograde. Regarding the one and only favourable recommendation to grant
parity in pension to pre-2006 pensioners, the Government has already expressed
its unwillingness to accept the same for some flimsy reason like
non-availability of records.

The 7thC{C
report was submitted on 19th November 2016. Already six months are
over, since its submission to Government. The Government constituted an
Empowered Committee of Secretaries under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary
to study the recommendations of the 7th CPC and to submit final
proposal to Cabinet for approval. The NJCA representing the JCM (National
Council) Staff side expected that the Empowered Committee will negotiate with
the staff side before coming to a final conclusion. Unfortunately the NDA
Government led by BJP is not ready for a negotiated settlement. Empowered
Committee called the staff side on 01.03.2016 and in that meeting the staff
side was asked to present their view points on various issues listed in their
memorandum. No discussion or negotiation was allowed. Government was not ready
to disclose its mind on any of the demands raised by the staff side.

In the above
background the NJCA felt that the staff side is being humiliated by the
Government and decided to give a fitting reply to the negative attitude of the
NDA Government and the decision to go on indefinite strike from 11th
July 2016 was declared. As far as Postal employees are concerned, noneof our
demands are considered by the 7th Pay Commission. It simply rejected
our demand for upgradation of pay scales of various cadres in the Postal
department by saying –“There is no justification for upgrade”.Eventhough the Government and Chairman 7th CPC
repeatedly refused to concede our demand for inclusion of Gramin Dak Sevaks
under the purview of 7th CPC, surprisingly the 7th CPC
has “carefully considered” the demand for grant of civil servant status to GDS
and mercilessly rejected it. The NFPE, AIPEU-GDS and PJCA has submitted a
detailed memorandum to Secretary, Department of Posts, demanding modifications
in the recommendations of the 7th CPC on Postal employees. The PJCA
has also served indefinite strike notice on 9th June 2016 and
submitted the charter of demands to the Secretary, Departmental of Posts.

Thus the battle
lines are drawn. We cannot predict the attitude of the NDA Government towards
the indefinite strike and we cannot rule out the possibility of Government
unleashing repressive measures against the strike. Victimization and brutal
repressive action by Government using even military and CRPF is not new to the
Central Government employees. We are ready to face any vindictive action by the
Government, but we will not and shall not go back from our decision to go on
indefinite strike, until and unless the NDA Government concede the genuine and
legitimate demands submitted by NJCA & PJCA. Let us be very firm and
determined and unite the entire Central Government employees to ensure
rock-like unity from top to bottom level and make the 11th July 2016
indefinite strike a thundering success.